Straight

A straight cut holds the knee's width all the way down, so the flat-measured hem and knee come out equal. Nothing tapers and nothing flares, which makes it the geometric middle of denim and the line that every era's plain jean returns to.

Day to day the column skims rather than grips, so rigid 100 percent cotton denim works here without stretch. Rigid denim also fades with more character, because the creases set where you actually move. The hem hovers over nearly any shoe, from sneaker to low boot, without the shoe dictating the cut. Length is the one judgment call. A single soft break, the shallow fold where the hem meets the shoe, is the traditional target. By contrast, a pile of stacked cloth at the ankle reads deliberately casual.

What straight declines to do is flatter by geometry. It neither lengthens the leg the way a flare does nor showcases it the way a skinny does. The payoff is that it also dates the least. It survives the trend swings that retire the extremes. If you own one pair of jeans, the reasoning runs toward straight. Straight is likeliest to still look right in 5 years, and it is easiest to hem, taper or cuff later.